COVID-19 drastically changed many aspects of life in the U.S. and most certainly changed standard operating procedures in higher education. Moving all classes completely online created numerous challenges not only for students, but also for faculty. For students, these challenges included issues related to physical and mental health, job loss, and…

Maintaining a learning community's status as a high-impact practice involves understanding the factors that contribute to their effectiveness in increasing retention, engagement, and overall academic success. By creating diverse small groups in which students are encouraged to support one another academically, both during and outside of class, the…

Recent efforts to increase college access and completion concentrate on reducing tuition rates at community colleges, but researchers and policy makers alike have expressed concern that such reductions may not lead to long-term gains in college completion. In this paper, I use detailed data on students' college enrollment and completion outcomes…

Over the past five years, the RP Group's "Through the Gate" transfer study has developed a deeper understanding of how California Community College (CCC) students experience transfer pathways. Specifically, the study focused on increasing transfer for "high-leverage" students: those who had completed all or most of the…

The California community college system is the largest provider of publicly funded career education in the state. Community colleges are therefore critical for effective and equitable workforce training, even as the system has a governance and financing structure that creates challenges to connecting college programs to careers. Furthermore, there…

Writing skills are vital to college and career success; therefore, students who do not succeed in writing will likely struggle in their subsequent coursework. Latino male college students are the most at-risk group. Following a single case study approach, this qualitative study examines the writing perceptions of three Latino males in their…

As of fall 2019, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office required all California community colleges (CCC) to be in compliance with Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705). CCC were required to implement multiple measures placement policies for math and English that would maximize the likelihood that students with an educational goal of degree or…

Two-year post-secondary institutions such as community and technical colleges continue to serve as the primary pathway into higher education for men of color (Bush & Bush, 2010). 71% of Black and Latino men begin their experiences in public postsecondary education at a community or technical college (Wood, Harris, & White 2015). The belief…

First-generation college students are associated with lower educational outcomes leading to decreased career aspirations. Student engagement has been linked to positive college retention outcomes. The present study surveyed 6,421 technical and two-year college students, who were in their first term of college, to determine if there are differences…

In writing studies research, automated writing evaluation technology is typically examined for a specific, often narrow purpose: to evaluate a particular writing improvement measure, to mine data for changes in writing performance, or to demonstrate the effectiveness of a single technology and accompanying validity arguments. This article adopts a…

While homeless and highly mobile students experience multiple forms of marginality, trauma, and economic hardship, an increasing number of community colleges are providing support services tailored for this population. This qualitative study examined campus food pantries as a vital service that furthers the completion agenda.

There is a growing movement in academia that focuses on increased efforts at undergraduate research. Historically, this movement has been driven by faculty in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and has only recently become a focus for social sciences in general and political science in particular. For students to…

The military has long-standing partnerships with institutions of higher education (Leporte, 2013; Parks, 2015 & Massie, 2016). These partnerships have been significant over time because the United States Army has incentivized civilian education via the Army enlisted ranks and promotional structure (Wilson, Smith, Lee & Stevenson, 2013).…

Many students enter community college underprepared in math and must take multiple semesters of developmental (remedial) classes. Far too few of these students ever enroll in -- let alone pass -- an introductory college-level math course, but without those credits, they cannot graduate. Among the many reforms practitioners are undertaking to try…

Higher education institutions provide programs and services in support of personal, professional, and community development. The positive impact of higher education is threatened by the imminent departures of experienced employees responsible for implementing institutional programs and services. Research suggests succession planning assists…